Part
Twenty-six

1998 Photographic Review

(Great Photos, Please Be Patient)

By Al CampbellPhotographs by Al Campbell, copyright 1998

As fall arrives glowing with color,
it's nice to look back on the flyfishing
year we enjoyed. It seems like only yesterday
I was standing in a light layer of snow waiting
for spring and trying to catch a fish.

Spring eventually arrived, but winter was slow
to release its grip on the Black Hills. Our last
snowfall was June 6th. Yup, I was flyfishing that
day too. A little snow can't stop a dedicated fly
fisherman. Caught a few fish too, some nice ones.

Summer is the season most flyfishers wait for.
Hatches of mayflies

and caddisflies are best this time of year.

The weather is warm and sunlight lasts past
bedtime. This is dry fly fishing weather.
The upstream drift replaces the nymph and wet
fly drifts of winter and spring.

If only summer could last a few months longer.

Now it's autumn. The trees start changing color in the Black Hills a little
earlier than many other places. The water levels lower and streams clear up
after the summer rains that replenished the land but fall less frequently this
time of year.

First it's just a few trees and bushes that change color.

By mid October the trees are ablaze with yellows, reds and
oranges.

If you pick your days right, you can still
enjoy warm temperatures that last 'til sunset.

Autumn fishing is back to nymphs and woolly
buggers if you want fast action. There are
a few hatches of mayflies and sparse caddis
hatches this time of year, but it's hard to
beat the results a big woolly bugger will
produce.

Hooking a fish this time of year is a photographer's
delight.

No other time of the year delights the eye more
than autumn. But, autumn will also pass. The color
has already passed in the higher mountains of the
Black Hills.

So now it's back to tying flies, building rods
and other things that keep us dreaming of spring.
I'll still be fishing whenever the days are warm
enough, but dreams of spring and summer will bless
my nighttime. And when I feel a little discouraged,
I'll dig out the slides and look at the summer
that just passed. I'll feel a bit warmer, tie flies
a bit faster, and dream of summer a little harder
every time I view the year I left behind.

That's why I'm sharing a little bit of my year with
you; so you can dream with me on those cold winter
nights that hover just around the corner. ~ Al Campbell